Group items tagged

With a new $3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the MIT Education Arcade is about to design, build, and research a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) to help high school students learn math and biology.

One point not covered in the article is that there may be something inherently similar about "gamers" (such as a motivational, attentional, or perceptive profile) that makes them different types of learners than others. Yes, it's true that some people deeply enjoy the structured (some more/some less) challenges provided by games, both board and virtual...but others do not. The big question is, does it benefit a majority of learners (or, say, a majority of at-risk learners) to invest in curricula that leverages game-based-learning?

It may stray a bit from the topic of motivation, but here's a neuroscience article (that I found quite interesting) that discusses how a difference in striatal volume appears to affect how one's performance improves in playing a game: Erickson, K. I., Boot, W. R., Basak, C., Neider, M. B., Prakash, R. S., Voss, M. W., Graybiel, A. M., et al. (2010). Striatal volume predicts level of video game skill acquisition. Cerebral Cortex, 20(11), 1-9. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp293

Panel Discussion at the DML Conference on March 2, 2012

This article discusses 20 tips to enhance one's collaboration and blended learning experience.

The growing badge-based-learning movement, which provides students with digital credentials that challenge traditional measures of achievement like college degrees, got a boost yesterday. Winners of the Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition, which began in September, were announced at the Digital Media and Learning Conference, in San Francisco.

Social studies teacher using entertainment videogames

thought this had an intersting point about educational games focusing on the education value first and then the entertainment value as a second... I think this can be heavily evident with some educational games, and kids sense or know this.

I think this seriously overlooks the notion that we do so often what we get paid to do - so its not just the money, its the rarity of the experience. Would these people drag so often if they were asked to do this favor 5 days a week?

"It has long been understood that memroy formation is an active and often exhausting process, losing them seems to happen quite passively as time elapses and new information overloads our busy brains. But a new study published February 19 in the journal Cell shows that forgetting is a biochemically active process not unlike memory formation."

Distructive...? Disruptive, yes. Internet is still finding ways to upend business models and psycho-social norms.

Once again, people are approaching social media as a cute distraction and not a powerful data minin tool. I purposefully keep my bday and other info wrong. A) I get to see who of my 'friends' knows me well enoughto notice and B) ...I like to keep the creepers guessing. Still, apparently your freewheeling posts might actually help you get a date...just make sure to meet in a public space and with mace!

Talk about high stakes tests! These soldiers in basic training are learning about the tools of the trade in simulations designed to evoke emotional reactions not dissimilar to the ones they may face if deployed to a war zone.

We talked briefly in class about how depression by definition is lack of motivation yet people who are depressed are somehow motivated to be on line and participate in online gaming. The articles I have posted give some insight to this, but I don't feel satisfied with the explanations they have. Any ideas?

First off, I really stopped playing the major video game titles after I beat Super Mario Bros. II. It took me like 4 months to best Bowser, but once I did and the world pretty much remained the same I lost interest. Still, I cannot say all the new games that have come out recently don't peak my interest. The problem, I have been out of the gaming loop for so long now that I am at a serious disadvantage whenever I play. The controllers have become so complkicated and sensative that I spend most of the initial induction just trying to figure out what the hell I am supposed to do, and what combonation of clicks and toggles prompts the desired effect. Nintendo's Wii however seemingly streamined the learning curve as my body was the primary controller. Sony is now prepping to launch an entirely new controller protocol that uses the functions of the handheld even less. It might even eliminate the need for a controler all together...all body, all movement are calibrated and support the players avatar.

More fodder for STEM education. Diverse units of business and industry are joining forces to rev up support for STEM.

The study, published in the March issue of the journal <Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine showed that, for both periods, adolescents who spend more time watching TV or playing video games were more likely to report lower quality relationships compared with those who logged less screen time.

A new study published in the March issue of the Psychological Bulletin suggests that exposure to violence in video games may not have huge consequences.